gbm wrote:My original question was still never answered though...
why are the figures made when the character on the TV show doesn't even exist?
Same with Prime Ironhide...
Transformers Prime isn't the first line to do this. In fact, every single toyline had characters in toy form that never appeared in their on-screen media. Transformers Animated is really the only exception when you don't count the convention exclusives.
Of course, a lot of them appeared in comics or tied in media. There isn't one PRiD toy that wasn't in Aligned fiction (whether that be the games, novels, or TV shows).
To answer your question, it's a marketing strategy as well as a way to fill in the toyline when you have a small cast.